


you’re all that’s safe, you’re all that’s warm

by scepticallyopenminded



Series: 30 Days of Writing Challenge [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:03:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scepticallyopenminded/pseuds/scepticallyopenminded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But if there’s anything he’s come to realize over the last five years since he was sixteen, it’s that this life he’s led has, more than anyone or anything else, made him who he is. It’s made him stronger, mentally and physically and emotionally, and now he’s got friends (pack, family) that he loves and who love him, he’s dating one seriously awesome werewolf. Living this life still comes with so much worry, even as things have levelled off quite a bit since they all graduated high school. He still has low-level anxiety whenever he sees Derek’s name on his phone, just in case it’s a call saying how there’s another creature or pack attacking the city, even though most phone calls from Derek have to do with the usual “how was your day” and “love you” and occasionally phone sex. He still has nightmares, though much more infrequently. And, every once in a while, he does have the occasional thought of “my life would be much easier if…”</p>
            </blockquote>





	you’re all that’s safe, you’re all that’s warm

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from "Feather On The Clyde" by Passenger

When Stiles was sixteen, his life changed forever.

Actually, scratch that, move back a few years, when Stiles was nine. That’s when his life first changed dramatically. His mom died when he nine.

But it changed again when he was sixteen, because when he was sixteen, Scott was bitten. By a _werewolf_ , which weren’t even supposed to _exist_. Because at sixteen, he met Derek Hale for the first time, when he was sixteen he discovered an entirely new world that had been coexisting with _his_ life for much longer than he’d been alive. Because _supernatural_ things existed, things like were-animals and pixies and _vampires_ and witches.

It’s been years since Stiles was sixteen, and over the years, his awe had faded, at least mostly. Mostly, eve when he was still sixteen, his awe faded into knowledge and worry and constant anxiety in the face of seeing his best friend, of seeing his other friends, of seeing those who would eventually become his _pack_ , nearly die. Of seeing _himself_ nearly die, more than once. Of seeing true evil, in supernatural and humans alike.

Sometimes, during those years, Stiles wished his life were different. That he had been born somewhere other than Beacon Hills, that he had never befriended Scott, that he had never met Derek.

But if there’s anything he’s come to realize over the last five years since he was sixteen, it’s that this life he’s led has, more than anyone or anything else, made him who he is. It’s made him stronger, mentally and physically and emotionally, and now he’s got friends ( _pack, family_ ) that he loves and who love him, he’s dating one seriously awesome werewolf. Living this life still comes with _so much worry_ , even as things have levelled off quite a bit since they all graduated high school. He still has low-level anxiety whenever he sees Derek’s name on his phone, _just in case_ it’s a call saying how there’s another creature or pack attacking the city, even though most phone calls from Derek have to do with the usual “how was your day” and “love you” and occasionally phone sex. He still has nightmares, though much more infrequently. And, every once in a while, he does have the occasional thought of “my life would be much easier if…”

But, he thinks as he’s splayed out on the couch in Derek’s apartment, head in Derek’s lap, the entire rest of the pack thrown onto various furniture, five different conversations going on at once as everyone ignores the movie they’d put on, laughing and happy, he sincerely doubts he could have it better than _this_.

So instead he revels in the fingers that trace through his hair as Derek talks to Lydia and Isaac about something, eavesdrops a little into the conversation Scott and Allison and Kira are having over the latest Dreamworks movie, closes his eyes and doesn’t try to imagine his life as anything other than exactly what it is.

****

Derek knows that he would give up almost anything to have his family back, to be able to talk to him mom once more, to be able to get mad at Laura for whatever prank she pulled on him this time, to be able to play a game of chess with his dad once more. To be able to have Cora back home where she belongs, rather than in South America where she’d formed a home after hers was destroyed.

But over the years it’s become harder and harder to even _imagine_ giving up the pack he has now for the pack he had growing up. Because he doesn’t think he’d be able to make that choice. He loves his family, would still give up a lot to have them back, but _this_ is his new family, the family he’s created over the years, and he loves them, too. He’d give a lot to go back and warn off his younger self from ever talking to or trusting Kate Argent, but he also realizes that would come with probably never meeting any of the people currently sitting in his living room. The very thought hurts him.

These people make him happy. His _pack_ makes him happy. He can’t do anything but thoroughly enjoy it as he listens to Lydia and Isaac talk about the pros and cons of setting their wedding date for a few months after graduation from college or waiting a couple more years until Lydia’s gotten her Masters. It’s something he’s thought a lot about himself, having wanted to ask Stiles to marry him for a time now, but trying to figure out the best time in which to do so.

He glances around the room as Lydia brings up the point that they’ll be able to better afford a wedding after they’ve been working real jobs for a couple of years, thinking very briefly that this could be his family instead, in their house instead of his apartment. The thought flies through quickly though, with the realization that this _is_ his family, just one that’s a little different that the one he imagined he’d have at twenty six.

_This_ is his family, his pack, and he’s okay being exactly where he is.   

**Author's Note:**

> find me at [asocialfoxpaw](http://asocialfoxpaw.tumblr.com/) or [onedirectionaremyfirstlove](http://onedirectionaremyfirstlove.tumblr.com/)


End file.
